Portable restrooms are generally composed of a portable enclosure containing a chemical toilet, and are typically used as a temporary toilet for construction sites, large gatherings, or as a cost-saving alternative to maintaining larger plumbing infrastructure, among other temporary needs. They are generally durable, constructed out of a lightweight molded plastic. Portable restrooms are typically large enough for only a single occupant. Some include both a seated toilet and urinal. Most include lockable doors and a means to vent the holding tank.
As indicated, portable restrooms are often designed for use by a single occupant. Moreover, portable restrooms offer limited interior space. Therefore, efforts are made in their design to optimize freedom of movement. Moreover, all the interior components must be cleaned and serviced regularly. Therefore, they must be easily accessible and cleanable. Items commonly found in portable restrooms are a shelf to place personal items (such as cell phones, camera, beverage can, etc.), a toilet paper dispenser, and/or a hook to hang a purse or belt or jacket.
One of the problems with portable restrooms is the noxious odor that exists due to waste which is kept in the restroom holding tank and chemicals used to break down the waste. Ventilation enhances user comfort in portable restrooms by minimizing these noxious odors. Ventilation can also help to reduce excessive (and potentially dangerous) heat resulting from solar gain. Current portable restrooms often include screens to assist in ventilation. In the absence of a portable restroom industry standard, manufactures have attempted to provide solutions which comply with screening perceptions associated with screened, well-fitting door and window openings found in modern homes and permanent public outdoor toilets, but at the same time resistant to damage and vandalism. Screen openings are typically produced as a relatively heavy plastic piece in a wide variety of geometries and sizes, as well as by various production methods; both as a separate component and/or integral part of the wall panel of the portable restroom. Unfortunately, none of these methods produce a screen with ventilation performance comparable to those commonly used domestically to prevent the entry of small insects and airborne debris. Additionally these manufactured screens suggest ample airflow by their many openings and/or size of openings. However, manufactured openings often produce abrupt and/or ragged edges that cause turbulence: an invisible restriction to optimum airflow. Furthermore, costly attempts to produce ventilation screens ignore the fact that portable restroom doors, due to the nature of their construction and placement of portable restrooms on, often, uneven surfaces, are not intended to replicate the fit of a modern domestic screened door; even having intentional gaps provided for drainage and/or airflow. Relative large openings to provide interior drainage are also commonly found about the bottom of the walls and tank. These relatively large openings associated with poorly fitting doors and drainage openings of a portable restroom negate the function of a screen intended to prevent the entrance of small insects and airborne debris. Ventilation in portable restrooms is further hampered with the often necessary practice of placing multiple units, side-by-side and/or back-to-back as large banks or a sitting of portable restrooms; with only the door fronts (which are typically unventilated) exposed to natural air movement. Accordingly, a need exists for improved ventilation of and improved airflow in a portable restroom.
Privacy in a portable restroom is typically provided by self-closing doors held shut by a closure device consisting of a spring and a polymer coated wire rope, serving as a lanyard with a loop on the jamb end. One end of the closure is attached to the door and the other end is attached to the hinge side door jam. As the door is opened the wire rope winds around component geometries which are typically weak and often abrupt, while at the same time tugs at the anchoring fastener in the jamb.
To afford users privacy, portable restrooms also use devices including a mechanism to lock or latch the door. Some of these systems are prone to breakage. Others use rotating devices which often mar the interior door surface. Some portable restrooms also use what is referred to as a “hover handle”, which is a handle mounted to the interior panel of the door for the purpose of allowing the user to hold themselves over the tank opening while preventing contact with the toilet seat. Another problem with existing portable restrooms is they continue to require the user to touch various surfaces, such as the door handle or a portion of the door with their hand to enter or exit the portable restroom. “No touch” sanitary practices are becoming more commonplace. No touch normally refers to practices that avoid physical contact with or touching of potentially contaminated surfaces. Unfortunately, these practices have not been currently employed in portable restrooms. A need exists to integrate these devices to maximize space, reduce damage to the restroom, and to employ no touch sanitary practices.
A need also exists for improved hands-free door opening mechanisms in portable restrooms. Current portable restrooms offer foot operated door pulls which are integral shapes molded into the door and/or adjacent components at the time of manufacture. However, these systems operate poorly in the typical harsh outdoor and physical environment in which portable restrooms are used.
Another problem with portable restrooms is toilet seat breakage. The portable sanitation industry is aggravated by the high rate of toilet seat breakage. This breakage is attributed to the movement of a person positioned on the seat, causing rotational forces leading to the failure of the seat hinge components. Accordingly, an improved toilet seat for a portable restroom is needed.
As the term “portable restroom” implies, the portable restroom must be movable or transportable. However, the greatest stress on a portable restroom hinge joint fastener is when a unit is dropped on one of its front corners (typically when dropped from a transport vehicle) and when it is subjected to the stresses of a ratchet belt (during transport). In each case, the commonly used rivet and hinge leaf in a portable restroom door is subjected to significant stress and easily breaks. Likewise, fasteners that attach portable restroom sidewall components to the base often employ mechanical anchors, molded in plastic bosses or use threaded fasteners with no provision at all to enhance engagement. The mechanical anchors tend to be expensive and often rust over time. The molded-in bosses are relatively small in size and fasteners often miss them during installation, rendering them useless. Both the mechanical anchors and the molded-in bosses add significant cost the portable restroom base and provide questionable performance. Moreover, portable restrooms are often lifted by cranes to work areas not accessible to the usual servicing equipment. Lifting hardware used often includes cables or metal bars that engage the bottom of the portable restroom base by means of holes drilled through the vertical plastic walls of the base. The additional weight of the restroom holding tank fluids and handling stresses often cause the lift hardware to cut into the vertical wall of the base, weakening the base, and causing unsafe conditions. An additional safety concern is present when the lifting hardware used to cradle the portable restroom is allowed to hang in the area dedicated to ground handling equipment thus causing damage and safety concerns in an area difficult to observe.
In addition to the foregoing, portable toilets traditionally were formed having a support surface which spanned a hole in the ground. The toilet was then slid to a new location when the hole was filled. A subsequent iteration of a portable toilet included the addition of a tank, along with wooden runners for portability using lift trucks. This portable toilet continued to use a wooden support surface and wooden ribs to support the weight of the tank and occupant. The wooden support surface, wooden ribs, and runners were eventually replaced with plastic. This plastic part became a single molded plastic part or base, manufactured by a variety of processes from thermoforming to roto-molding, or blow molding, or injection molding, or compression molding. The base also became a reservoir used for flushing systems. However, to date, the rib structure on the base has not been adequate to effectively support the load of the portable toilet, the tank, and the occupant.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for an improved portable restroom which provides solutions to the above-described drawbacks.